The myth of the treacherous yogin. Unrestrained power and deception in the parable of Silvio ...

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by  Fabrizio Ferrari

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The myth of the treacherous yogin.
Unrestrained power and deception in the parable of Silvio Berlusconi.
Fabrizio M. Ferrari
Images have become our true sex object.
(Jean Baudrillard Ecstasy 35)
Abstract
L’articolo prende spunto dal perpetuarsi dell’immaginario religioso nell’agone politico
dell’Italia contemporanea. Nel caso specifico, l’affermarsi del Berlusconismo e il
moltiplicarsi di una serie di agiografie – spesso auto-promosse – sull’ex-presidente del
consiglio dei ministri Silvio Berlusconi sono qui discussi come un culto della personalità
che nel corso di due decadi ha favorito il moltiplicarsi di processi egemonici in seno alla
società italiana. La critica qui condotta trae spunto da due testi critici radicalmente
diversi per orientamento ed epoca storica ma sorprendentemente affini a livello
pragmatico: gli Śiva-sūtra di Vasugupta e La Société du spectacle di Guy Debord.
La politica promossa da Berlusconi negli ultimi vent’anni è stata presentata
ossessivamente come un fattore unificante (in questo senso yoga) ma alla fine si è rivelata
una forma di potere incontrollato che ha nuociuto tanto al suo artefice quanto alle sue
vittime. Traendo ispirazione dalla teoria e pratica dello yoga e dalla devastante critica
sociale di Debord, le implicazioni culturali della parabola Berlusconiana sono qui
discusse come l’apoteosi della mancanza di controllo del potere e l’origine
dell’ignoranza. L’articolo conclude con una valtuazione dello yoga come stumento per
una visone rivoluzionaria contro ogni totalitarismo.
Parole chiave: Silvio Berlusconi, Śiva-sūtra, The Society of the Spectacle, Yoga, myth,
subalternity.
On November, 16th 2011, following a series of sex scandals (including the accusation of
soliciting minors for sex) and a charge for malfeasance in office, Mr Silvio Berlusconi
resigned as Prime Minister of Italy. In fact Berlusconi failed to meet most of his pre-election
promises and proved unable to tackle Italy’s debt crisis. After Berlusconi’s resignation, an
interim government has been formed by Prof Mario Monti (former European Commissioner
and Rector and President of Bocconi University in Milan) with the purpose of restoring
credibility to Italy, and to strengthen its collapsed economy. Next general elections are
scheduled on March 2013. Out of his «sense of responsibility», Mr Berlusconi has announced
he will run again for the position of Prime Minister (BBC News 2012).
Regardless the outcomes of the forthcoming elections, and despite the fact that
Berlusconi is internationally discredited as a statesman, there is the perception that only sex
scandals (cf. Messia 2011) have had the power to reveal the dangerous one-man myth built
by means of a treacherous propaganda, self-martyrisation and the promotion of a culture of
ignorance, arrogance and discrimination. The relentlessness of Mr Berlusconi thus prompts
an analysis of the concept of «legitimate power» and the way mythological narratives are
created and adjusted to validate the origin and perpetuation of uneven development. In
addressing such issues, this article intends to promote alternative philosophy as a legitimate
frame for larger political and social analyses.
It is no novelty that religious discourses and religious imagery intersect with politics on
a number of levels, and that they have been used by politicians – with the more or less tacit
agreement of religious authorities – to disseminate and validate a number of convoluted
practices of control. A study of Mr Berlusconi’s politics and narratives allows a deeper
inquiry into ways power and consent are created, negotiated and transmitted, eventually
constructing myth and reinforcing mimetic desire. I thus propose a comparative exegetical
exercise based on the reading of two different, yet structurally similar, texts: the Śiva-sūtras
(the aphorisms revealed by the god Śiva to the sage Vasugupta), and Guy Debord’s The
Society of the Spectacle (La Société du spectacle, the manifesto of Situationist International
originally published in 1967).1 Though operating in different contexts and epochs, both texts
(henceforth ŚS and SoS) are now «scriptures», and for some are dogmatic in nature.
My analysis will focus on their overt critique of the material world as a reality
constructed on egomaniac processes and implemented by consumerism and ignorance. In
particular, politics is examined as yoga, a system that «implies physical training, exertion of
will power and acts of decision, because it wants to deal with the complete human situation
and provide real freedom, not just a theory of liberation.» (Klostermaier 1994: 402) Likewise,
Situationist International:
was ruled by a sort of collective responsibility, according to which individual theoretical
statements and behaviors automatically involved everyone else. This feature, similar to one of
the aspects of religious sects, has in the case of the SI an aesthetic meaning, referring to the
importance of the constraining and binding element of style; as Nietzsche writes, it implies the
erasure of individual specificity, a deep sense of discipline and a repugnance for a
disorganized and chaotic nature.
(Perniola 1999, p. 92)
1 The text is available online from Situationist International Archive and Marxist Internet
Archive.
Berlusconism, conversely – though loudly advertised as adhering to similar coordinates
– is in fact the place of non-politics, the saturnalia of power and the epitome of self-mimetic
desire. In short, it is the total performance of ignorance (avidya) and the channel for the
perpetuation of illusion (māyā) – or, in Debordian terms, «falsification.»2
The logic behind the construction of power through religious discourses and religious
consent is thus shown as a sādhana (practice)3 inevitably leading to the disclosure of the
deception enforced by the sādhaka (practitioner). Political emancipation, either yogic
enlightenment or social liberation, can be achieved only by showing the obscenity of the
spectacle, the dynamics of control it exerts and its genesis.
Dangerous liaisons, or tales of the despicable sādhaka
The union of the elements, the separation of the elements and the union of the universe.
ŚS 1: 21
Separation is the alpha and omega of the spectacle. […] Thus power as a separate realm has
always had a spectacular aspect, but mass allegiance to frozen religious imagery was
originally a shared acknowledgment of loss […].
SoS 25
Silvio Berlusconi, the most prominent Italian tycoon, seized his moment in 1993. After
the political turmoil that followed major political scandals and the end of the so-called First
Republic, he founded his party, Forza Italia (lit. «Go Italy!»), and on March 1994 he won
general elections becoming Prime Minister. Too many failed to acknowledge that
2 Cf. the coming together of state, media and capital as the origin of falsehood in Tapie’s
France and Berlusconi’s Italy (Hussey 2010, pp. 66-67).
3 Among its many meanings, sādhana is any performance «leading straight to a goal»;
«the act of mastering, overpowering, subduing» or «accomplishment, fulfilment,
completion, perfection» (Monier Williams 1995, p. 1201).
Berlusconi’s newly acquired parliamentary immunity actually saved him from pending trials
and further judicial inquiries. After the 1994 success, Berlusconi – at the head of a coalition
that through the years grouped former Christian Democrats, socialists, nationalists,
conservatives, theo-dems, neo- and post-Fascists, northern and southern secessionists,
founded La Casa delle Libertà (lit. «The House of Freedoms») and won elections again in
2001 and in 2008, thus confirming an unprecedented consensus.4
Left alone by an overtly inefficacious parliamentary opposition, extra-parliamentary
movements (mainly leftists), civic committees and Italian non-aligned and oppositional press
have increasingly challenged Berlusconi’s power, especially during the last mandate (2008-
2011).5 Even the tacit support given to Berlusconi’s government by Catholic media and
clerical authorities started to tremble vis-à-vis an internationally perceived decline in the
praxis (including its ethical and moral connotations) of the Italian former PM.
Although the public was aware of a disturbingly extensive list of past and present trials
and allegations, 6 it was Mr Berlusconi’s insatiable sexual appetites for young girls, his
possible relation with minors, his alleged fondness for orgies and a plan for securing seats in
the EU parliament to young women with no political expertise and on mere attractiveness
criteria that caused the greatest outrage. Italians were shocked to learn that Berlusconi
repeatedly used state flights to bring in his Sardinian villa friends, pop-singers, showgirls and
models for private parties while his Roman residence of Palazzo Grazioli was an open
harbour for prostitutes who were entertained on the king size bed courtesy of Mr Vladimir
4 Mr Berlusconi is the third longest-serving PM since the Unification of Italy (1861), after
Benito Mussolini (1925-1943) and Giovanni Giolitti (five times in office from 1892 and
1921).
5 For a quantitative analysis of Berlusconi approval rating and its decline, see Roncarolo
2005, pp. 86-88.
6 Amongst these, conflict of interests, accusations of corruption, abuse of office,
embezzlement, tax fraud, false accounting, false testimony, illegal financing of a political
party and external relationship in mafia association. The most accessible online source
listing Mr Berlusconi’s extensive record of criminal allegations, trials and their status can
be retrieved from the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trials_and_allegations_involving_Silvio_Berlusconi
Putin. The words of Mrs Veronica Lario, Berlusconi’s former second wife, contributed to
move the people, especially women. While publicly announcing divorce, Mrs Lario declared
that her husband «is not well» and entertains minors. Mrs Lario’s open letter to La
Repubblica – one of the most influential opposition newspapers – caused outraged reactions
(Lario 2007). Not only, and predictably, from Italian opposition parties. Also from
ecclesiastic authorities, Catholic media and the international press.
Members and sympathisers of La Casa delle Libertà loudly backed-up Berlusconi by
attacking Famiglia Cristiana (a popular Italian Catholic magazine) and its editor, don
Antonio Sciortino, who wrote that the position of Mr Berlusconi was «unjustifiable», and
who urged the Church to adopt a more radical position. Avvenire, the newspaper of CEI (the
Italian Episcopal Conference) was also harshly criticised. After the publication of a series of
columns commenting on the morally questionable private life of the Italian PM, Il Giornale –
a major newspaper belonging to Silvio Berlusconi and then sold in 1994 to his brother Paolo
– attacked Mr Dino Boffo, editor-in-chief of Avvenire, with a discredit campaign built on
false allegations.7 This episode led to an immediate reply from ecclesiastic authorities,
including a Vatican official note stating that Pope Benedict XVI deplores the unjust and
injurious attacks circulating in the media against the former editor of the Italian Bishops’
Conference daily newspaper.
The crisis between the Vatican and the Italian PM intensified following further
shocking news. Berlusconi had been accused of hiring dozens of prostitutes (one of them a
minor) and of malfeasance in office (concussione). Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, the
Vatican’s Secretary of State and Camerlengo, and formerly Secretary of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, released an official note in which he said that: «The Church pushes
and invites everyone, above all those who hold public responsibility in any administrative,
political and judicial area, to be committed to a more robust morality, a sense of justice and
lawfulness.» (Willey 2011)
7 Vittorio Feltri, editor of Il Giornale, reported of a plea bargain accepted in court by Mr
Boffo in 2002 after being accused of harassing a woman, and exposed him as a
homosexual. Mr Boffo resigned due to the devastating effects of the defamation
campaign on his family. The resignation was emphatically reported on Il Giornale and
presented as a victory. On March, 4th 2009, Feltri publicly recanted his accusations. The
Italian Journalists Professional Organisation suspended him for six months (then reduced
to three).
The moral question within Italian institutions during Berlusconi’s government must be
contextualised in an increasingly worrying scenario. Amongst the most significant factors: an
escalation of cases of corruption among members of La Casa delle Libertà, an unprecedented
economic crisis, massive unemployment, questionable cuts to research and public education
sectors, the raise of security issues on ethnic/faith grounds,8 the increasing brutality of Police
forces to repress strikes and manifestations, the rise of homophobia, the lack of state help to
the 2009 earthquake survivors in Abruzzo, a growing discontent for the Italian participation
to the occupation of sovereign countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq and, last but not least,
allegations of Mr Berlusconi’s collusion with Cosa Nostra (Squires 2009; Allum 2011, p.
287). As postulated by Kaplan on Debordian premises:
no new culture could be invented by these blind, driven, deficient individuals – certainly not
an organic traditional folk culture. Instead, a corrupt, kitsch commercial culture would
flourish, supplying prefabricated emotions and ideas to mass publics. This culture distorts the
populace’s true humanity and reflects either the imposed tastes of the elites, or the vulgarity of
the masses whose desires are not restrained by any self-discipline or character.
(Kaplan 2012, p. 469)
The issue at stake is therefore not just Berlusconi’s leadership and charisma, rather – as
suggested by Shin and Agnew (2008, p. 11) – the concept of «followership» that he has been
able to inculcate. In other words, to understand Berlusconi’s power, one should explore on
what premises deception has been built.
The yoga of deception, or how to fool people
When diversity has been eliminated
(the yogi’s) action is to give rise to another creation.
ŚS 3: 7
8 Hate campaigns against Muslims, extracomunitarian migrants, «gypsies» and the
infamous respingimenti, a rejection policy in agreement with the Libyan government of
Muammar Gaddafi, Berlusconi’s personal friend.
The phenomenon of separation is part and parcel of the unity of the world, of a global social praxis that
has split up into reality on the one hand and image on the other.
SoS 7
One of the keys to understanding the myth of Silvio Berlusconi is to examine his capacity to present
himself as a role model, and therefore to generate mimetic desire. Berlusconi built his political and
entrepreneurial career on religious imagery. The construction of his power mirrors the conditions discussed in
1972 by Herbert Marcuse:
If […] state and society are now viewed, indirectly or directly, as divine institutions whose
authority beyond this is derived either from its mere existence or mere permanence, or from a
mystical âme nationale […], this signifies the elevation of the existing system of domination
above any possibility of justification vis-à-vis the insight and need of individuals. The
authoritative order embracing state and society is at once the «divine and natural» order of
things.
(Marcuse 2008, p. 68)
To incarnate unrestrained power, Berlusconi has borrowed vastly from popular Christology and Marian
devotion. His entrepreneurial and political career is a mission, i.e. the new Italian miracle. Allegedly the «Man
of Providence», formerly a title of Benito Mussolini, Berlusconi was chosen by God: «I have been anointed by
the Lord. There is something divine about being chosen by the people. It is a serious matter that somebody who
has been chosen by the people, the anointed one, could even think to betray the citizens’ mandate.» (la Stampa,
2009).9 As Newell observes: «The famous discesa in campo, for example, overflows with religious allusions in
Berlusconi’s presentation of it.» (2011, p. 352; cf. Parotto 2007, p. 26) His followers are like «missionaries», or
«apostles»: «I (Berlusconi) will explain you the Gospel of Forza Italia, the Gospel of Silvio» (in Wehling 2012,
p. 108). His behaviour and deeds have been repeatedly presented as those of an infallible ruler.10 In brief, he
incarnates divine good – hence his wrathful bewilderment when his party lost the administrative elections in
Naples and Milan (May 2011). On that occasion Berlsuconi said: «You will repent […] pray the Lord that
nothing bad happens […] now that the others have won» (Argento 2011).
Berlusconi – through a persistent self-victimisation – has also the traits of the martyr: «I am the Jesus
Christ of politics. I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone» (BBC News
9 This is standard practice in politics. See, for instance, Lincoln’s study of social, political
and cosmic disorder in Achaemenian Persia and Bush’s USA as a result of leaders falsely
claiming divine intervention and then building governance on lies (Lincoln 2007).
10 «Should journalists do the exegesis of what Mr Berlusconi says, they will see he is
always right.» L’Espresso, November, 11th 1994.
2006). A self-declared believer of the Christian turn-the-other-cheek philosophy, he called himself a miracolato
when he was assaulted by a protester with a story of mental illness on December 2009 (Wehling 2012, p. 108).
The former PM, who was left bleeding and traumatised, managed to emerge as a merciful forgiver (except
pretending maximum penal severity) and in the aftermath of the incident he started the promotion of a love-
cum-forgive culture as well as the restyling of his party as the Party of Love (il Partito dell’Amore). Finally, in a
culturally Catholic country, Berlusconi’s so much advertised devotion for his mother, Mamma Rosa, contributed
significantly to enhance his identification with the perfect son, Jesus.11
But is the mythology of the Son of God of Roman Catholicism actually fitting Silvio
Berlusconi? Despite efforts in filling out the place of a displaced Holy (Žižek 1989, p. 220),
other mythologies can be looked at for a more persuasive analysis of Berlusconi’s delirium of
omnipotence. In particular, the Hindu god Śiva, his stories and his revelation will herein serve
the purpose to show how the exploitation of divine imagery can be dangerous and deceitful if
performed by an egomaniac sādhaka (practitioner).
As the tales of Lord Śiva, the myth of Silvio Berlusconi entails contradictory elements.
While ruling perpetually immersed in a state of self-reference (vimarśa)12 with no external
contradictors, he is also deeply embedded in the immanent world. He is the orgiastic satyr
who seduces 21st century apsarās (celestial damsels) during his extramarital dalliances. He is
surrounded by loyal gaṇas (attendants) and gandharvas (celestial musicians/singers) and
enjoys the pañcamākaras13 on occasion of banquets and private parties. He presents himself
as the ideal husband loyal to his personal pativratā,14 unless she turns in a vengeful Durgā
claiming respect for herself and her offspring. He is the epitome of filial devotion, the one
who owes everything to his mother (cf. jñānādhiṣṭānaṁ mātrk̥ ā, ŚS 1, p. 4).15 He is the
11 For a comprehensive list of Berlusconi’s religious quotes, see Travaglio and Gomez
2006, pp. 2015-2021.
12 He once declared: «I am Berlusconi-oriented» (in Poli 1988, p. 271).
13 The five Ms at the core of left-hand Tantric ritualism: madya (wine), māṁsa (meat),
matsya (fish), mudra (parched grain, in this case, spaghetti) and maithuna (sexual
intercourse).
14 «A woman devoted to the husband,» in traditional Hinduism.
15 ‘The ground of knowledge is mātrk̥ ā [the mother]’.
ascetic yogin who takes the vow of chastity in order to achieve a supreme result (i.e. electoral
success; Merlo 2006). He is Śaṅkara, the one who dispenses joy and happiness. He is the
Lord of the Dance (naṭarāja) who creates by means of his impetuous and (to date)
unrestrained performance a new world (and many financial empires). He is mrt̥ yunjāya, the
one who defeats death, the embodiment of youth and (sexual) vigour, and the proof that
money can buy not only love but life. He is Bhairava (the Terrible One) to his enemies and
Tripurāntaka, the one who destroys Tripura, the abode of terrible communist asuras
(demons). Despite using women as a commodity,16 he admits to be in touch with his feminine
side, thus embodying Śiva Ardhanārīśvara («half-male and half-female»). But it is in the
phallic imagery of the self-promoted campaign of a playboy Prime Minister that Berlusconi
mocks Śiva’s iconography at best; he is the liṅga.
All these analogies must not lead to the wrong conclusions. I am not suggesting in any
way that Berlusconi is or resembles Śiva – just like I doubt his praxis could recall Jesus
Christ’s. However, as long as politicians from different latitudes seem to enjoy divine
parallels, I will continue this exercise in order to show the dangers behind such convenient
exegeses.
In this case, one has to keep in mind that the myth of Śiva is an extremely fluid sacred
narrative continuously processed and informed by the cultural «noise» produced by Hindus
across the world. Conversely, Berlusconi’s myth is a yoga constructed for its own self-
maintenance.
Classic yoga, like the one theorised by Patañjali or the aphorisms revealed to
Vasugupta, is union. Like politics, it is a path aiming to investigate suffering and to transcend
it. Advocates of Berlusconi may claim that he is a misled yogin tricked by māyā (illusion) in
his genuine effort to pursue samādhi, the cessative state in which avidyā (ignorance) is
vanquished. A more radical defender could suggest that Berlusconi embodies the extreme
aghori-like ascetic who needs to go through excess and anti-normative practices to achieve
the greater good. My argument provides a rather different exegesis.
16 Following sex scandals and several allegations about more or less legitimate
relationships, Berlusconi was presented by his lawyer Niccolò Ghedini not as a prostitute
client, but as «the final user» (utilizzatore finale).
Berlusconi’s praxis sharply contrasts yogic precepts for those who aspire towards
freedom (incidentally, one of the most recurrent terms in Berlusconi’s political and
entrepreneurial action). Yogic yamas (lit. «restraints») recommend a strict adherence to five
ethical precepts, namely ahiṁsā (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing),
brahmacārya (chastity) and aparigraha (non-possessiveness or non-grasping). The true
yogin is also required to observe many nīyamas (cultural habits), including śauca (purity),
santośa (contentment), tapas (austerity, or stoic endurance of discomfort without complaint)
and svadhyaya (the habit of study and reflection) (Yogasūtra 2: 32, cf. Dhand 2002, p. 355).
Yet Berlusconi’s performance adheres to different principles, and in so doing it has
rendered Italy an arena for a major crisis under political, economic and most of all cultural
terms. Using the Lipman-Blumen’s table of «fourteen destructive behaviours» (2005, pp. 19-
20), Allums has shown that Berlusconi has adopted at least eleven of them, namely «1)
feeding illusions of followers, creating dependency; 2) playing to “basest fears and needs”; 3)
stifling constructive criticism; 4) misleading followers through lies; 5) subverting justice
system and committing crimes; 6) building totalitarian/dynastic regime; 7) failing to nurture
other leaders; 8) setting one group against another; 9) fostering hatred of other groups among
followers; 10) identifying scapegoats; and 11) promoting incompetence, cronyism,
corruption» (Allum 2011, p. 285).
Through the construction of a quasi-religious myth, Berlusconi exerts confusion and
illusion.17 Eventually he provides a theory of liberation that suits himself only and at the same
time it is the source of avidya (ignorance) in its fourfold form; asmita (egoism), raga
(attachment), dveśa (aversion) and abhiniveśa (love of physical life) (Yogasūtra 2: 3). So
while in the case of classic yoga, māyā is a threat to the performer, here Illusion is the
sādhana saṅginī (female companion) of the erotic ascetic.18 In the myth of power constructed
by Berlusconi, the practitioner believes to dominate the goddess Māyā and to be the Master
of Illusion. In fact, he is just enacting the spectacle of hubris and ignorance. The yogic
17 This is what Debord, in rather polemical tone, has condemned as a practice aiming at
cultural subjugation and control (McDonough 2006, p. 42).
18 Berlusconi relentlessly presents himself as a man in control, both capable of
abstinence and great passion. In that he confirms Hakim’s analysis on erotic capital as a
fourth asset, after the theorisation of economic, cultural and social capital (Hakim 2010).